The present invention relates to a method of forming corrugated paperboard containers, including food containers and food trays and, in particular, employing corrugated paperboard in a novel stamping process, which paperboard has an increased frequency of flutes in its internal layer, such that upon introducing the corrugated paperboard to the stamping process, the paperboard does not break apart and is capable of being molded to produce a satisfactory unitary structure.
Heretofore, to produce unitary paperboard containers without gluing, manufacturers have attempted to stamp certain types of corrugated paperboard, such as E-flute corrugated paperboard, and have been unable to create a satisfactory unitary construction. Efforts at stamping corrugated paperboard resulted in the paperboard breaking up during the stamping process and have failed to achieve a utilitarian molded unitary structure.
Accordingly, the use of corrugated paperboard for containers has been limited to an expensive multi-step manufacturing process in which the paperboard must first be printed, then die cut and then passed through complex box folding machinery. Accordingly, a corrugated paperboard that would permit pressing and forming (stamping) into a container and a method of pressing and forming corrugated paperboard container would be desirable.